Giancarlo Viterbo

Just when you thought that Steam is the only online game store distribution platform that’s available, think again. Just today, Discord, known for its widely used communications app, is launching its very own store that may be accessed directly in the platform. https://youtu.be/1h9F_oPxtes The store features a number of games, which are sometimes first available on Discord like “At Sundown”, “Bad North”, “King of the Hat”, “Minion Masters” and “Sinnerz”, to name a few. The store library is expected to grow in the next few days, and it may very well be another alternative to Steam and Microsoft Store. Of course, Discord plays very well with Steam. The platform can detect your Steam Library and let you access everything that’s installed on your system via its universal launcher. There is also an option to allow Discord overlay to be integrated to all compatible games with a single click of a…

ASUS and OPPO have been constantly battling to get a good chunk of consumer mindshare. Its most powerful smartphones – Zenfone 5z and Find X – are now both available in the Philippines, and have proven to be among the best ones available in the market. While both phones are in 2 price polarities in the flagship category, they offer good gaming and camera performance. The purpose of this article to see how both devices fare in the rear camera and AI photography departments. During our recent trips, we used both phots to take photos and see, which one performed better in various conditions. Do note though all the photos were taken with AI-Mode enabled on both devices. OPPO always dominates the shootout when it comes to selfie shots. There are a few extra steps to enable beauty mode on Zenfone 5z, while it’s already turned on at default when…

The last innovation that really struck my attention was LG G5. While it didn’t really take off, the reason behind having a modular device was impressive albeit an unsustainable setup. Other brands followed suit, but it didn’t take long when they raised the white flag and moved on to the next frontier – the screen notch. Joke or not, the notch is proved to be the trend that still persists. The screen got bigger, but there was no easy way to hide the front camera and the sensors that usually go with it until OPPO came up with the first phone that has a full mechanical back panel. This hides both front and back cameras, plus all the powerful sensors it boasts of while giving the user a seamless widescreen experience. Announced in June 2018, I didn’t actually realize that OPPO Philippines will bring the OPPO Find X to the Philippines.…

We are a big fan of the Cherry Mobile Flare S7 Plus. We have been using for more than 3 weeks now, and have been enjoying it so far! Apart from being a midrange gaming beast, it is also capable of taking amazing photos, thanks to its impressive set of cameras. Cherry Mobile asked us to send some photo entries for their exhibit at SM North EDSA. We wish to share with you everything we sent them. For high-res, download everything here: Scenic Shots Lowlight Rear Shots Food Photography Panoramic Selfie Portrait Shots Selfies Lowlight Selfies Of course, these are just some of the photos we have, but we are committed to post more in the days to come! We will be posting our full review and gaming benchmarks using Flare S7 Plus, so stay tuned! In case you missed our other posts about this series, be sure…

IDC report is finally out, and while it is important to note of the top mobile brands in terms of smartphone shipments, it is equally vital to look at what helped to make this happen. If you take a look at the chart that IDC posted last October 1, ultra low-end and low-end devices dominate the price band spectrum of the industry. A year later, you would notice a significant shift in the spectrum where ultra low-end decreased, while both low-end and mid-range increased. Now, why are more Filipinos able to buy mid-range smartphones this year than last year? To understand this, we had to ask an investments and economics expert, Migs Lopez of Critical Index. Migs shared with us that the changes we are seeing this year in the smartphone consumer landscape have something to do with Filipinos’ purchasing power, TRAIN law, and inflation. TRAIN Law Effect The Filipino…

Tokyo Game Show 2018 is finally done, and if you were at the event, you would notice the huge presence of mobile games that are available for consumers. As the new games get better in terms of story, controls, sensible microtransactions and graphics, the demand for smooth performance is a top priority among consumers. Prior to this, some mobile games didn’t need smartphones with high specifications. Titles like Angry Birds, Temple Run and Doodle Jump are made to be played on most smartphones. Things were so simple 3 – 4 years ago, right? Usually, smartphones in the flagship range would be able to cope up with triple-A titles with top-notch graphics such as Gangster Vegas and the 1st Injustice for mobile. Users of budget smartphones that rock MediaTek processor did not mind playing the aforementioned until the middle of 2017. It was then when mobile games with pretty significant content and high…

A few days ago, our eyes were treated with a slew of new products that Quantum Global Gears are bringing to the Philippines particularly from 1MORE and VAGO. Who is 1MORE? A relatively new brand, 1MORE, has been trying to take a piece of the pie, and has been pretty successful in doing so. For

Now is the best time to grab yourself a Cherry Mobile Flare S6 Selfie! Cherry Mobile’s very own selfie-centric smartphone is now on sale! It currently sells for PhP4999, down from its original price of Php7999. However, you’ve got to start lining up at Cherry Mobile Stores nationwide as this is up for sale until September 30, 2018. Cherry Mobile Flare S6 Selfie seems to be last ‘Selfie’ that the company will be introducing this year. You would remember that the new Flare S7 series does not have a ‘Selfie’ variant, so we have a solid reason to believe that we may not be seeing a new selfie soon. Cherry Mobile Flare S6 Selfie Specs: 1.5GHz MediaTek MT6750T Octa-Core Processor Mali T860 MP2 3GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage expandable via microSD card (Up to 128GB) 5.2-inch IPS HD Plus 16MP + 5MP Front Cameras 16MP + 5MP Rear…

Philippines’ very own Cherry Mobile is ready to take on Taiwanese and Chinese smartphone brands with its latest smartphone offering. Cherry Mobile’s launch of Flare S7 Plus has not yet been announced yet but there’s already a huge buzz about it. Tech blogs in the Philippines, including our site, have been posting photos of the new smartphone and sample camera photos, which are contributing to the increase of hype about the smartphone. You can check our sample photos on this link. Now, what makes this capable of competing against OPPO’s F9, Huawei’s Nova 3i and VIVO’s V11i? Performance and Camera! For starters, the new Flare S7 Plus rocks a MediaTek Helio P60 SoC with 2.0Ghz Octa-Core processor. We’re honestly a huge fan of this SoC, and there’s also a reason why other brands like OPPO stick to it for 2 phone generations (OPPO F7 and OPPO F9). MediaTek Helio P60…

Without questions, Cherry Mobile Flare S7 Plus is the best camera smartphone the Cherry Mobile has to date. We haven’t seen other Cherry Mobile phones that are capable of taking photos with impressive quality than the one we brought to Japan to cover Tokyo Game Show 2018. If you have been following our Instagram posts (@gadgetpilipinas) during our coverage of the TGS 2018, our daily driver was the Cherry Mobile Flare S7 Plus. So, feast your eyes and take a look at some of our photos: For high-resolution photos, go to this link: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1HwHBWNh2WYceTywxiNBhxNKbZuGyz988?usp=sharing We’ve got to hold our horses so we don’t spoil too much of our TGS experience with photos. Watch out for our first impressions and review of Cherry Mobile Flare S7 Plus! Oh, and while you’re at it – be sure to check out our full coverage of Tokyo Game Show 2018 on this link. Our Tokyo…

GPU Turbo, as a software feature that crunches the smartphone’s hardware to give its best, eats quite a hefty amount of resource, but it helps the device deliver the power and capability it needs to produce smooth gameplay experience. So, if you’re looking for a smartphone that’s meant for gaming with a significant sacrifice on battery consumption, play with Honor Play. Pun intended. As for the other software features, Honor Play has everything you need for your workflow and entertainment to be more efficient and enjoying, respectively. You won’t find Easy Projection and EMUI Desktop here but such absences aren’t much of a deal breaker. Camera Honor Play, while not built for mobile photography, takes good photos with acceptable amount of default exposure and contrast. As an AI-powered smartphone, it assesses the subject and all the conditions in it before it suggests that right levels of photo qualities. The AI…

PLDT Home Prepaid WiFi is a breeze to install. As a plug and play device for your home, the prepaid WiFi solution of PLDT Home may just be the right kind of gadget for families who are wanting to have a decent connection at home. Unlike other PLDT Home products, this one’s a little special as it doesn’t ride PLDT’s DSL or fiber internet connection. Instead, the device uses Smart’s infrastructure to ride on its superior LTE connection. Recently, Smart LTE was certified by Ookla as the country’s fastest mobile network. If you haven’t gotten your PLDT Home Prepaid WiFi, you can check out units available at PLDT Stores and retailers nationwide. Each product you get comes with free 10GB data for a one-time payment of PhP1,995. For those who already got a device with them, here are 5 tips to make sure you get the best experience: Remove that…

It is obvious that the number of gaming peripheral brands are growing in the Philippines. If you follow our social media channels and blog, you would know that we have been posting sample and review items we have been receiving from brands such as ASUS Republic of Gamers, Zowie and Gamdias. One year that captivated our attention was Rapoo. Rapoo is a winner of multiple accolades from the press and international bodies such as the Industry Forum and Design (iF) for its innovations on product designs, has created a system which loads the odds to benefit the end user. They launched a few items last April 2017, and we even got the chance to review their VPRO V310 mouse and VPRO V720S gaming keyboard. This year, they started to engage a few bloggers and game streamers to introduce and promote their latest line of new products. The new products of Rapoo include two…

Following the gaming performance benchmark of the Nova 3i and OPPO F9, a lot of you got interested to know how Honor Play stacks in the competition. Honor Play is regarded for its insane price in the market, making it one of the favored devices in by Filipinos next to Pocofone F1. Today we're pitting

As we’re researching for the hottest midrange smartphones in the market in the Philippines, we found out that 2 products are getting a significant number of search blips via Google search – Huawei Nova 3i and OPPO F9. In fact, a lot of our readers have been messaging us about what to buy between the two. They received answers and a few explanations. However, we thought of coming up with articles that will further explain the reasons for our answers. Design Hands-down, Nova 3i is one of the beautiful smartphones we’ve seen this year. Its one-of-a-kind and sophisticated gradient look is a story worth telling, but the sense of wonder it evokes has details that are more than what we can see. OPPO F9’s plastic back panel with flower petal design is also noteworthy. While they are late in the game, OPPO’s desire to upgrade the aesthetics of their smartphones…

We knew there’s something about the latest NVIDIA Game Ready driver we received today! Come September 6, the latest in the Battlefield series will be available for Open Beta in anticipation of its full release on October 19. The latest NVIDIA Game Ready Driver – 399.07 – readies everyone who owns an NVIDIA graphics card to play the game. Meanwhile, for reviewers and those who will be receiving the RTX 20xx units they ordered this September 20, they will be able to enjoy the ray-tracing support of the latest Battlefield game. Battlefield V is one of the first games enhanced with an NVIDIA RTX Real-Time Ray tracing on the latest RTX-series of GPUs by NVIDIA. You can check out coverage on this link. We hope to receive an RTX 20xx unit for our review so we can stream it to our channels and review accordingly. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpUm0N4Hsd8 The demo pre-load hits…